Decisions
by CZGoldEdition
Summary: Set between "Vows" and "Instincts", Adelle realizes they are missing a doctor. Claire/Topher, Topher&Adelle, Boyd.


Neither Boyd nor Topher informed Adelle DeWitt that Dr. Saunders had vanished from the premises of the Dollhouse. This did not surprise her, but irritated her none the less.

She first found out when Quebec's handler visited her office, concerned at his inability to locate the good doctor to treat a sprained joint his active came by during his last engagement. Who to confront was no mystery to Adelle, so she had headed down to the imprint floor right away in search of Topher.

Unfortunately, once there she encountered a lack of Topher as well, finding Ivy left in charge of the equipment. For a wild moment she thought that perhaps he had run off too, perhaps _with_ Claire - she realized he didn't quite have the chops for such a course of action but could not disregard the possibility outright. Adelle made a point of never being caught unawares on account of the emotions of those residing in her house, both dolls and staff. She suspected that no contract and no amount of wiping could erase or curb a person's true intentions completely, nor their core emotional states. Inherent violence was at work within Alpha, just as a sense of righteous duty remained alive and well in Echo. And even more powerful and fearful an emotion than both of these was love.

Adelle was therefore most relieved to find Topher shortly thereafter, in his room. The programmer was seated on the edge of his bed, face in his hands, eyes scrunched shut to the world. She hovered in the doorway a moment before broaching on his space, taking a moment to curb the impulse of her somewhat maternal soft spot for Topher. Though a large degree the genius he built himself up to be, Topher struck her as more unruly adolescent than grown man, a quality she had found surprisingly endearing over the past few years. Topher did not need coddling and hand holding, however. He needed direct, blunt authority, especially now.

"Topher, why am I missing a doctor?"

Topher startled, his hands shooting to the edge of his mattress as if automatically preparing to push off and stand up in self defense before relaxing slightly and staying put. He sighed visibly, looking away from Adelle to stare at the wall of server space to his left.

"Not my fault," he insisted, though his tone did not convey that he had yet convinced himself of this, "She makes her own decisions."

"And she decided to vacate her post why? I thought you had included personality characteristics to keep her from ever wishing to leave this place when you build the imprint?"

"Yes, yes," Topher waved his hand dismissively and turned back to her, his countenance devolving into a jumble of irritation and arrogance, perhaps as a self defense mechanism, "I did. It was flawless. Fear of sunlight, people, animals, crowded spaces, driving, public transportation – that build was pristine. No way could she ever have made it out into the real world without having a mental breakdown, okay?"

"So what went wrong?"

"She kind of, uh... maaaybe found out she was a doll and already... had a breakdown?"

Adelle used her discretion and elected not to question Topher about the details of said breakdown. Given the history between them she wagered the resulting confrontation had been somewhat traumatizing, and though she had to admit she was curious, delving would be counterproductive.

"You can still track her, can't you?"

"Could, yeah. Dr. Saunders would know where the GPS strip is implanted on actives, so before I originally imprinted Whiskey with her persona, the strip was relocated. Should still be intact."

"How long will it take for you to get a fix on her exact location?"

Topher shuffled his feet nervously, "Would I be fired if I said I didn't... really want to?"

Adelle stared at him, taken aback a moment. She was generally the one source of authority Topher saw fit to obey.

"You- what?"

"If she left, she needed to. Like I said, she makes her own decisions. Maybe she needs time and space, or a self-guided journey like she thought the other glitching dolls did. I don't know."

Adelle stood there for a long beat before making up her mind and turning to leave the room. She paused again in the doorway to dish out instructions.

"We'll need a temporary fill-in. Please select a doll with a low-traffic request profile and build them the appropriate imprint. Mike, perhaps."

Adelle strode from sight without looking back to see Topher's reaction, but she felt comfortable in assuming it was one of astonishment.

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Boyd found Topher buried in the guts of a PC tower, rewiring, tinkering or replacing some component or another – Boyd didn't know, he wasn't at all familiar with the inner workings of a computer. And he was beginning to realize he could say the same about his knowledge of the inner workings of Topher.

"I heard what you did, for Claire."

Topher didn't even look up or pause from his work.

"Did you now."

"I've never seen you stand up to DeWitt directly. It's amiable that you took the leap to for her."

Topher stopped then, putting down the pair of pliers he had been holding and turning his head slightly to regard Boyd.

"You know what, man-friend? Between me and you... I wouldn't talk to me about Dr. Saunders."

He turned away and resumed his tinkering, making it clear the conversation was over. Boyd lingered a moment before leaving the imprint room, laden with more mysteries than he entered with.


End file.
